Genius Squad (32 page)

From there, he descended to street level and made for the university. It took him about ten minutes. But it was another hour before he located Gazo. In fact he was just beginning to wonder whether he should risk making inquiries at the main university office when he spied a man pruning a hedge near the entrance to St Paul’s College.

Cadel recognised his friend instantly. Rather than calling out Gazo’s name, however, he scanned the immediate area for any suspicious-looking people who might be loitering on benches or sitting in cars. There were cars aplenty, and a scattering of people, though Cadel decided that they probably weren’t police officers or GenoME surveillance scouts. For one thing, they were all very young. And for another, they were all on the move, walking briskly past Gazo on their way to a library or a bus stop, their backpacks laden with books, the noise from their iPod earphones blocking out the roar of traffic and the chatter of birds. Every one of these busy pedestrians seemed as harmless as a drink of water.

Even so, Cadel approached his friend with great care. Clacking along in his high-heeled boots, he pretended to catch sight of Gazo when they were only two or three metres apart. Gazo was wielding a pair of hedge-trimmers. His attention was fixed on the foliage in front of him, so he didn’t notice Cadel at first. Not until Cadel had muttered his name.

‘Gazo? Is that you?’

Gazo turned, his face a mask of astonishment. He looked even more surprised when he saw Cadel, whom he clearly didn’t recognise.

‘Remember me?’ Cadel continued, with what he hoped was an alluring smile. ‘Ariel?’ he said, and winked.

Ariel was the alias that Cadel had used in his Disguise course at the Institute. Hearing it, Gazo gasped. His eyes widened. Before he could speak, however, he was interrupted.

‘Someone might be watching,’ Cadel said softly. ‘Just smile and look bashful, okay? I don’t want to advertise the fact that I’m here.’

Gazo nodded. His answering grin was a little agonised, but all the more convincing as a result. Cadel was sure that, if a
real
girl had accosted Gazo in the street, she would have received a similar kind of grin.

‘Has GenoME contacted you?’ Cadel asked. ‘About helping at the Coroner’s Court?’

Gazo’s bewildered expression was as revealing as any spoken response.

‘Fine,’ said Cadel. ‘That’s all right.’ And he went on to explain that GenoME was planning to abduct Prosper English, using Gazo as a secret weapon. ‘I’ve been hacking into the GenoME system,’ Cadel explained hurriedly, without mentioning Genius Squad, ‘and I don’t want the police to find out what I’ve been up to. But I
do
want them to stop GenoME from freeing Prosper. That’s why I was wondering if you could warn the police, as soon as you’re approached. You will, won’t you?’

‘Of course,’ Gazo replied, in a dazed fashion.

‘I figured you would.’ Cadel tried to adopt a flirtatious pose, putting a hand on one hip. He was hoping that, from a distance, he had the appearance of someone who was teasing Gazo about not showing up at a party. ‘The thing is, you’ll have to tell Saul not to send any emails about this,’ he went on, ‘because GenoME has been hacking into the police computer system.’ Seeing Gazo’s furrowed brow, Cadel decided to spell out exactly what he wanted his friend to do. ‘If anything gets onto the police system, it might tip off GenoME. So you’ll have to pretend that GenoME was your source about the hacking, as well. You can’t mention my name. All right?’

Gazo hesitated, still absorbing this torrent of information. At last he said, ‘Sorry . . . when will I be hearing from GenoME?’

‘Soon. Prosper’s going to court on Monday. Which means GenoME will probably call you today some time. Or tomorrow.’

‘I don’t get it.’ Gazo began to frown and shake his head. Then it must have occurred to him that he was supposed to be bantering with a girl, because he slapped on his tortured grin again. ‘Why would them people at GenoME fink I’d help break the law?’ he demanded.

‘Because they know who you are, Gazo. They’ll probably threaten to tell the police where you’re hiding if you don’t help out. And they might offer you a lot of money, as an incentive.’ Cadel laughed mirthlessly. ‘Not that you could trust them to give it to you.’

‘I wouldn’t take it, even if they did.
I
don’t want Prosper outta gaol.’

‘No. Neither do I.’

They stared at each other for a moment, in perfect accord. Then Cadel said, ‘I’d better go. I shouldn’t hang around for too long.’

Gazo licked his lips. ‘Are the coppers following you?’ he queried.

‘I don’t think so. But they might be following you.’ Struggling to project an air of playfulness, Cadel delivered his final instructions. ‘As soon as you hear from GenoME, give Detective Greeniaus a call. He’ll tell you what to do. And remember – don’t mention my name.’

‘No. I won’t.’

‘Mr Greeniaus told me how helpful you’ve been.’ It had suddenly occurred to Cadel that his friend deserved a pat on the back. ‘Thanks so much for talking to him. I really appreciate it.’

‘He’s a nice enough bloke,’ Gazo said with a shrug. ‘I reckon he’ll do the right thing.’

‘I know he will,’ said Cadel. And he took a deep breath, conscious of the minutes ticking by. He couldn’t afford to linger. ‘Bye, Gazo. Sorry I can’t stay.’

‘Bye, Ca – Candy.’

Cadel was impressed. He would never have expected such a quick recovery from Gazo, who had corrected his slip of the tongue just in time. But then again, Gazo had been a student at the Axis Institute. Like Cadel, he had grown accustomed to being watched.

Perhaps he had grown accustomed to dissembling, as well.

They parted breezily, Gazo with a wave, Cadel with a smile. Anyone observing them would have seen no backward glances as Cadel bustled away, his whole attention focused on putting one high-heeled boot in front of the other. It wasn’t easy, walking in those boots. And he didn’t want to arouse suspicion by turning an ankle, or tripping over a crack in the pavement.

Upon reaching King Street he doubled back, returning to Broadway through the park in front of Sydney University. He reached the cinema complex with nearly an hour to spare; the police driver, he saw, was still sprawled on a bench near cinema three, bleary-eyed with boredom. The only other people in sight were a couple of ushers, looking almost as bored as the driver.

This, Cadel thought, is going to be difficult.

He went to the snack bar and made two purchases: a can of soft-drink and a bag of mixed sweets. While passing the bodyguard he took a swig from the can, tilting his head back and concealing part of his face. The bag of sweets in his hand were supposed to act as a diversion. Their bright colours and seductive textures must have proved more fascinating than Cadel’s profile, because no sharp inquiry followed him into cinema three.

Fortunately, there were still a lot of spare seats in the theatre. Cadel picked out Hamish and Devin in the back row, simply because he had told them to sit there; it was so dark that they were barely visible. For the same reason, Cadel found it hard to identify the other bodyguard, at first. Only after positioning himself at one end of the back row did Cadel recognise the close-cropped skull stationed two rows in front of him.

Yes, he decided, this is
definitely
going to be difficult.

During the next hour, very slowly and carefully, he changed his clothes: first the shoes, then the skirt, then the jumper. He wiped off his make-up, and unpinned his hair. All the while, he kept a close eye on the policeman; whenever that nuggety head in front of him swivelled, Cadel would lower his chin and slide down deep into his chair. Finally, Devin passed him the beanie. After Cadel had yanked it on, the two of them performed a quick switch while Cadel’s bodyguard was watching an explosion on the big screen.

Then, as soon as the credits started to roll, Cadel and Hamish made a hurried departure. Leaving a hatless Devin to skulk in the back row, Cadel lured his bodyguard outside, where Zac was waiting. ‘How was it?’ asked Zac, in a loud voice. Whereupon Hamish replied, ‘Too long’, and giggled.

‘I fell asleep,’ Cadel said.

‘He missed the b-best bit,’ Hamish added, and giggled again. ‘The bit with the eyeball. The rest was crap.’

‘I told you it would be,’ Zac admonished. ‘Horror films always are.’

On their way to Zac’s van, Cadel and Hamish made desultory conversation about the movie – conscious that they were being followed. But once they were actually
in
the van, and heading for home, they were able to let their guard down. Cadel began to massage his temples. Hamish began to wriggle about in his seat.

‘Oh my God!’ he erupted. ‘That was
so awesome
! I can’t b-believe it actually
worked
!’

‘Do you think it really did work?’ Zac asked, addressing Cadel.

‘I hope so,’ Cadel replied. He was feeling the reaction already; his hands were beginning to tremble, and he’d broken into a sweat. ‘If it didn’t, I’ll probably hear about it soon enough. From Saul Greeniaus.’

‘Of course it worked!’ Hamish insisted. And Zac said, ‘Did you speak to Gazo Kovacs?’

‘Yes,’ said Cadel, staring out the window.

‘Is he going to cooperate?’

‘Yes.’ Preferring not to elaborate, Cadel cleared his throat and changed the subject. ‘Did anything happen while we were out?’

‘Only one thing.’ There was a pause, as Zac negotiated a rather tricky bit of traffic. At last he sighed and said, ‘Sonja finished decoding one of Carolina’s old emails. And it turned out to be an eye-opener. Apparently, the Australian branch was opened for just one reason: so that GenoME could get hold of Prosper English.’ He cut a quick glance in Cadel’s direction. ‘That’s what Carolina implied, anyway.’

‘Oh, shit,’ Hamish breathed.

‘If only Earl Toffany had agreed with her – in writing – we’d be able to pull the plug on GenoME right now,’ Zac concluded. And then he shrugged. ‘As it is, we’ve still got some digging to do.’

TWENTY-EIGHT

‘All right,’ said Trader. ‘Let’s consider our current status.’

It was Saturday afternoon, and Genius Squad had gathered around the kitchen table. No one was absent, because no one was on eavesdropping duty. With Amy’s computer turned off for the weekend, the bug inside it couldn’t be used.

‘Cliff and I have discussed the situation,’ Trader announced, ‘and we think that measures will have to be taken vis-à-vis this kidnapping attempt. It’s going to cause a bit of a problem for us, unless we move fast.’ He glanced over to where Cliff was sitting. ‘Care to expand on that, Cliff?’

‘Uh – yeah,’ Cliff rumbled, leaning forward. He looked very tired – and he wasn’t the only one. Cadel could hardly keep his eyes open, having been awake since three a.m. He had risen early to give himself extra time for trawling through the American systems, which were now shut down for the night.

Cadel worried that he might fall asleep where he sat.

‘Okay,’ said Cliff. ‘First off, for those who haven’t been told, the police are aware of GenoME’s plans because Gazo Kovacs has alerted them.’

‘I
think
he’s alerted them,’ Cadel amended, stifling a yawn. ‘I’m not sure yet. When Saul rang me this morning, he didn’t go into specifics. He just wanted to know if he could come round at four o’clock. He said it was very important, and it had to do with Prosper English.’ Cadel shrugged, in a resigned manner. ‘Maybe he’s just going to bawl me out for visiting Gazo yesterday.’

‘Well, let’s assume he wants to tell you about the proposed break-out,’ said Trader. ‘We can’t be sure about that, because there’s no mention of it on the police systems – ’

‘Which is a good thing,’ Judith interjected.

‘Which is, as you say, a good thing,’ Trader agreed. ‘But if Gazo
has
told the police about GenoME’s plan to abduct Prosper, we have to ask ourselves: what happens if the cops now decide to raid the Australian branch? Or arrest Carolina? You can bet Jerry Reinhard has a contingency plan in place.’

‘He does,’ Cliff gloomily confirmed. ‘He has a whole policy document.’

‘As well as a red button,’ added Hamish, who was chewing on a piece of Lexi’s bubble gum. This gum kept sticking to his braces, but he refused to spit it out. ‘
You
know,’ he said, when he saw Trader frown. ‘I mean a self-destruct program. To trash all their computer files, and slam the door to the US.’

‘Then we have to tackle that program ASAP.’ Cliff thumped a fist on the tabletop. ‘God forbid Jerry gets nervous, and destroys valuable data.’

‘You can sabotage a self-destruct program, can’t you, Dot?’ Trader inquired. ‘There must be a virus you can install, or something?’

‘Oh, sure,’ Hamish butted in airily. ‘I can do it myself.’ As he picked bits of grey goo off the metal in his mouth, Cliff regarded him without expression. Dot sniffed. Trader turned to Cadel, who was rubbing his eyes.

‘Cadel, I need you to find out what the coppers are up to. Since they won’t be discussing their plans on-line, you’ll be our only conduit. And we have to know what to expect.’

Cadel grunted. It was bad enough lying to Saul Greeniaus about Genius Squad; pumping the detective for information would be even worse.

‘Now, what about Carolina’s emails?’ Trader continued, throwing the question at Dot. ‘Have any more come through?’

Dot was the only squad member who didn’t look tired. Her smooth, round, small-featured face was as implacable as ever. She sat like a carved Buddha, calm and solid in her neatly pressed clothes, not a hair out of place.

‘There’s been nothing in the past few hours,’ she said. ‘What came through earlier is still being decoded. But the arrangements for Monday seem to have been finalised.’

‘With Earl Toffany’s input?’ Trader sounded hopeful. Dot, however, shook her head.

‘Not so far.’

‘You know, me and Sonja are really overworked,’ Lexi suddenly complained. Like Hamish, she was chewing gum; her bare feet were propped against the edge of the table, and she was playing fretfully with a rubber band. ‘There’s heaps and heaps of decoding to do – I don’t know why Devin or Tony can’t take over some of the basic stuff.’ She directed her next comment at Tony Cheung. ‘You can decrypt Vigenere ciphers, can’t you?’ she whined. ‘It’s just a lot of frequency analysis:
anyone
can manage that.’ As he opened his mouth to reply, she ploughed on, addressing Trader. ‘Anyway, I won’t be working the whole weekend, that’s for sure. I wanna go to the movies, like Devin did.’